We have decided for the set design to be very minimalistic to ensure that the band and the instruments are the main focal point. We also discovered during our genre research that this is very synonymous with indie rock music. Our set will consist of the typical band set up with amps located either side, drum kit located in the centre and microphone central front, whilst the guitar and bass either side of the lead singer, almost in a 'V' formation. We have deiced that we will recreate the white back drop using photography white backdrops, which we intend to obtain from college.This will be our main location for the band, however we intend to have random cutaways to other shots of the band in our decided locations. The lighting will be quite minimal, with potentially white spot lights highlighting individual members subtly. Obviously the Hotel shots and the town shots will not require any additional set design as this aspect of design isn't in our hands, however we will have to consider lighting and exposure to ensure our performers are visible. We have decided to arrange these features when on location creating tests shots to ensure all of the above is to our liking.
Monday, 29 September 2014
Pitch Feedback + Reflection
Feedback that we gained from our pitch was:
- we needed to make the bands image clearly, making them either grungy and only grungy or fun loving.
- make sure that we were clear as to what our cut aways were going to be and make sure that they made sense as well as fitting in with the genre.
- think about how we would incorporate colour. Originally we said that the whole video would be in black & white. However after discussing with the class and gaining feedback we decided that we should incorporate flecks of colour. The class then began to think of ideas on how we could do this and came up with the idea of them wearing coloured t-shirts.
- make sure that our editing pace reflected the song
- we needed to make sure that the video was exciting enough and had enough variety to keep the audience interested
- think a little more in detail about costume, make sure it fit into the genre and reflects their characters
- make sure we have a variety of shots, at different angles, distances and pans
Website Flatplan
After looking at several music websites, we decided to open our own with an enter site page which will link to our digipack and video by having an amp on the front with The Wired written on it in silver. To link with this, we'll have "enter site" written in a font to look like it's a wire- constantly linking back to the name of the band. This font will also appear as the masthead on the homepage to the website which will help create a house-style.
Social media will play a big part in the construction of our website for example, there will be a livestream of their Twitter account and a YouTube video embedded at the top of the page to entice audiences immediately. Instead of a page for photos, there will be a photo reel of the band, making them seem more quirky and different, also making them seem quite raw which links to the indie rock genre.
The more general layout of the webpages will take the form of the third image, which will also have the social media on the right hand side. This will give the website a social media base for advertising, but not so much to take away the main stories on the pages.
Digipack Flatplan
For the digipack, we have decided to have the front cover as an amp with their name on which is a running theme throughout our video and website. This also reflects the genre as a running theme through indie rock digipacks because the band aren't actually on the cover, therefore creating a slight enigma as to who the band are, intriguing the audience.
The back of the digipack will have three of the band members facing the camera, though perhaps not all in a direct mode of address, although the lead singer will be facing the other way. The opposing side of this image on the inner cover will have the photo from the opposite side- the three who were initially facing towards the camera will now be facing away and the lead singer will be facing the camera. This will present the band, although being indie rock, will appear as quite quirky and different. The fact that the lead singer is different throughout will make him stand out and also leave the audience to wonder who he is.
Behind the CD, there will be a thank you letter which will be written out and most likely edited in photoshop, it will have stationary around it, suggesting the band aren't very tidy and don't mind making a mess, also reflecting the genre.
The other images will be stereotypical of the indie rock genre- one on a dark street with the lead singer underneath a streetlight and another with the lead with a newspaper hiding his face. This will show the band as being quirky, but also leaving an enigma as to who they are.
In comparison to The Black Keys' digipack cover, ours aims to do something similar as we plan to make the amp look like a graphic design or possibly in black and white. However, our cover would use a red font for the name of the band or the name of the album to draw the audience's attention but also have the connotations of danger and excitement.
The photography on the back of the digipack would be in a similar layout to this- The band would be stood in positions similar to this, however the lead singer would be facing the other way and there would be room for another shot to be taken at the back of them. However, this will need to be taken in the studio as the sun would make it dark on one side of the digipack.
Costume + Props
We've looked at various costumes used by real indie bands and fans of the genre to help us decide how to reflect the genre in our own products. We've decided to dress the band in dark colours, mainly consisting of black and some leather jackets as it's a common feature of indie rock. They usually also wear skinny jeans with either converse, black shoes or boots which we can incooperate into our own costume design. They also usually wear patterned t-shirts or predominantly black shirts and also sometimes wear black sunglasses which we would like to mimic.
We've also looked at a few more of The Fratellis videos and seen that a recurring feature throughout is that the lead singer usually wears a top hat, our idea is to mimic this and have our lead wearing a top hat or a fedora.
Before deciding on what we want for our costumes, we are going to get our "band" together and see what costumes we have between them and try and work with that before looking for other costumes.
Location Recce + Risk Assessment
Additional risk assessments:
- Lighting - fire hazards in most locations - ensuring that all people on set are aware that spot lights especially will get extremely hot
- During filming in town - try to shoot during daylight and not dusk if possible to ensure safety of group
- During filming in hotel - be cautious of breakables in all rooms of hotel as damages must be accounted for
- When filming in town - be cautious of moving traffic and vehicles
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Additional Digipack Research
The Killers:
Many of The Killers' digipacks are in black and white which give a moody vibe to them as artists. A lot have things quite abstract such as the goat and the editing of the photos that makes them look like they are floating. This intrigues the audience and draws them into the band because they use abstract methods to create enigma. They mainly wear black regardless of the black and white images, also helping to create a moody vibe along with the lead singer wearing sunglasses which draws in the audience. The lighting is often dark even though most of the images are shot outdoors, again giving a moody vibe.
From this we could use some of their methods, however some won't suit The Fratellis' (The Wired) style of music as our song for the video is fairly upbeat and fast paced. From this, we could take some of the locations as many are outdoors throughout this research. This would mean that we'd need some outdoor locations to consider using. The costume would also be ideal for us and we will have to think about what style- many of these bands use dark or black clothing so that is something we will consider across all of our products.
The Kooks:
The Kook's digipacks use similar methods to The Killers, they are all in black and white but they also have different colour fonts, red and yellow, for the names of the albums. These carry connotations of danger generally making them out to be quite exciting, even though the photos are in black and white.
From this we could think about the different coloured writing and how it has an effect and creates an image for our "band", this could mean that if we used red for the album title, then it would make them out to be a manic band, which also ties in with the song we are using.
Kaiser Chiefs:
The interesting thing about the Kaiser Chiefs' digipack is that the images link well with the title of the album. "Ruby" links with the red of the image and "Souvenir" links to the rock in the sense you give it to people as a souvenir. They cleverly hint at the album with what seem to be abstract images, though when looking closely they have clearly been thought about in detail.
For our own digipack, we could also copy this method, we could have an image on a set of stairs to link with the song title "Creepin up the backstairs".
The Black Keys:
The Black Keys are fairly abstract in their digipacks and many have graphic images opposed to photographs. Again, these graphics often link to the titles such as "Turn Blue" with the red and blue swirls. Abstract images are often used, like the drum kit and the effectiveness of the drum kit forces audiences to look at their name as it is in a big font and takes up the majority of the cover.
This shows that in out own digipack, we will need to consider the placement and size of our fonts and decide what is more likely to be effective.
Franz Ferdinand:
The Franz Ferdinand cover uses a lot of graphic design but it's also mixed with a photo of a woman shouting. The graphic design is effective because it makes the woman look as if she's shouting the band's name, having connotations that they are a popular band. This also makes them seem like a quirky, fun band.
This would be ideal for our digipack as it shares similar vibes as our chosen song. The graphic design mixed with the photography is also very effective so we may consider using it to our advantage when designing our own digipack.
Additional Video Research
Cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing:
- black & white
- low key lighting
- dark clothing, mainly leather
- extreme close ups of instruments
- close ups of band - usually lead singer
- use of shadows and silhouettes
- images that make use of vertical detail with horizontal writing over the top usually stating the band and their song
- performance based shots
- aerial shots of the band
- cut aways usually featuring the band
- slight use of humour but very subtly
- use of mirrors or reflections
- effects and graphics to add something to different to the video
- long establishing shots
- lighting and projectors, shining onto objects
- serious facial expression
- hints of colour - either through lighting or miss-en-scene
Additional Website Research
Kings of Leon
http://kingsofleon.com/home#!/
http://tour.kingsofleon.com
http://www.thekills.tv
http://www.nin.com
http://kingsofleon.com/home#!/
http://tour.kingsofleon.com
- Instantly re-directs you to the tour page before you enter the site
- Use of light blurs - Bokeh
http://www.thekills.tv
http://www.nin.com
Monday, 22 September 2014
Research into location and set design
The Kings Head Hotel
22 Sept - We called the Kings Head Hotel in Darlington at 10am and are awaiting a call back from the Manager
22 Sept - (Evening) Hotel said that we were welcome to. We have to get back to them with dates and times, once we have discussed as a group to see which is viable for people need for filming (pref all group)
If this doesn't fall through here are a list of alternative hotels which we will keep for backup;
It is unlikely that the larger corporate hotels will allow us to use their business for filming purposes, but If the Kings Head doesn't allow us to film we always have these for
Darlington Town Centre
- 'Random Shots'
- Walking together
- Water fountain?
Train Station
- Establishing shot
- Group/ band stood at top of the stairs
- Tracking shot down stairs- gradually zoom out - walking on clap of beat
- Filming in the bypass tunnel on the clock side
- Over bridge on the main entrance
Dance Studio
We have booked out the dance studio to film our band shots (below are the time sheets where we have booked two shoots Ellie, Lauren, Anouska). We have tests shoots planned using white fabric to completely to cover the back wall and floor to maintain consistency.
Ideas for cutaways
We decided at the beginning of the music video process, that we wanted some form of cutaways that implied a narrative form but didn't conform to the typical narrative.
- The band stood against a plain wall with a projector projecting images into them. We got this idea from (The XX Crystallise)
- Behind the scenes shots of the band - loading, setting up, tuning etc.
- Personal shots for the band - relaxing in a casual setting
- Ramdon location shot - with and without the band
- Ending; lead sings continues to sing, whilst band is packing away - audio still playing
- The use of lighting and shadow to create contrast from the performance - We got this idea from numerous videos but especially, (Generationals - Put A Light On)
- Train station location - stood at top of the
We decided that in our video we are going to;
- Have random but choreographed footage of them being carefree and portraying the cheeky energetic persona of the band
- We aslo decided to have footage of the band walking around the town, again having fun and connecting to the upbeat tempo
- We decided to have a multitude of shots of 'random' footage much like the previous, as it will be easier to create the quick editing pace by cutting between the random shots with different location
- The first cutaways will be of the band setting up their insturuments
- We decided that we are going to ask permission of the local hotel to let us use of their rooms, one of the hall ways and possibly their 'backstairs' to film footage of the band chilling and relaxing in the room. One of our ideas was having the band running down the stairs of the hotel and perhaps writing in their room.
- Ending; lead singer continue to sing whilst band packs away - but audio is still playing
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Genre Research
Research into Audience
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Possible Tracks
The Maine - Misery
Pros - It has a variation of lighting, which creates a multitude of depth. It also has a variation of shots ie. close ups and long shots. It also has some tracking shows which I find work rather well. Slow-motion shot work well. These can be added in post production
Cons - It doesnt feature a band and his heavily narrative based which we have been advised to stay away from. This particular song is more on the side of rock, rather than indie. Perhaps the theme of this is a little too morbid. A large section of the beginning isn't as up beat as we would have liked.
The Black Keys - Little Black Submarine
Pros - Its performance based, which fits well with our initial ideas. It has a variation of shot angles which I think we can take a few ideas from. The tempo matches the cutaways, similarly to the above. Crowd shots give the video energy as if you were actually there.
Cons - In some parts the camera switches to hand held, and I'm not sure if this would come off as amateur if we tried to replicate this. Getting a venue like this might deem to be difficult. A crowd of this size would also need transport to the venue, food and might become tired as the day goes on ( The energy needs to be maintained throughout the whole performance
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
The PinInterest
Here we have created a pintrest board. This has allowed us to create an online mood board which each member of our group can contribute to. This allowed us to add everyone ideas and find a common ground within our likes and dislikes. The theme we chose was indie rock - I feel that this board reflects this our chosen theme with the dark and neutral colours. I think that recreating this theme/genre will be easy to recreate as I think this also reflects ours personal taste.
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